Chapter 780: A landmark signing

There is a phenomenon that can explain Florentino's status and influence in Real Madrid at present.

That is, in the Real Madrid presidential election on June 4 this year, he had no competitors and was re-elected without any suspense. This is not only because, in the eyes of Real Madrid fans, it is difficult for anyone to do better than Florentino, but also because he once again fought a series of public relations battles.

For example, in the six months before the election, he had always linked the team with Tottenham Hotspur's top star Cavani, which made all Real Madrid fans look forward to it. When Cristiano Ronaldo, Cavani and Gareth Bale form a front trident, how amazing will the impact be?

At the same time, the club's financial department also revealed that Real Madrid's total financial revenue in the past year will set an amazing record, exceeding 500 million euros, reaching 520 million euros, an increase of 1.3% over the previous season.

Although the team's growth rate lags far behind Tottenham Hotspur, it has become the first wealthy team to break through 500 million, which has indeed made Real Madrid fans happy for a while. At the same time, the team also announced that it will negotiate the broadcasting contract, and the price they offered is 200 million euros a year.

In this series of events, Florentino's reputation has once again reached the top, so there is no doubt about his re-election.

But after his re-election, Real Madrid fans are calling for Florentino to fulfill his promises. At the same time, the pressure from sponsors is not small. Some media disclosed that the Spanish media giant Pioneer Media has asked Real Madrid to make appropriate concessions in the broadcasting rights negotiations if they introduce superstar Cavani.

In addition, several other sponsors also stated that the negotiation of the new contract will depend on the strength of Real Madrid's signings this summer. There is even news that the top sponsor Emirates Airlines is willing to pay more for Real Madrid to introduce Cavani because the sponsor of Tottenham Hotspur, where Cavani is, is Qatar Airways, a rival of Emirates Airlines.

No one knows whether the inside story of the outside media is true or false, but in June, the outside media frequently reported that Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur have accelerated the negotiation on Cavani's transfer and made substantial concessions on the transfer fee. The specific transfer amount must exceed 100 million euros, which will create a new sky-high price in football.

There is no doubt that Cavani will come to Real Madrid, because Tottenham Hotspur cannot compete with Real Madrid in terms of salary, and Cavani has won all the honors in Tottenham Hotspur. He now joins Real Madrid to get rid of the shadows of teammates such as Messi and Ribery and stand on his own.

So the biggest gap between the two sides is the issue of transfer value. It is reported that Tottenham Hotspur received a transfer offer from Real Madrid half a year ago, and as early as the summer of 2012, Cavani was already the key signing target of Real Madrid, but Tottenham Hotspur has always refused to negotiate.

In the following six months, Real Madrid continued to raise its offer to over 100 million euros, which would completely exceed the transfer fee created by Cristiano Ronaldo. However, Peter Kenyon half-jokingly threw out a transfer fee of 200 million euros in an interview, which almost scared off Real Madrid.

But after Tottenham Hotspur reached the final and defeated Bayern Munich with a crushing offensive, Real Madrid took the initiative to restart negotiations. In order to be re-elected and increase bargaining chips with sponsors, Florentino was eager to introduce a top superstar. Cavani, the core player of the new Champions League champion, was undoubtedly the most suitable candidate.

More importantly, Real Madrid knew very well that Cavani wanted to leave, but they just couldn't agree on the price.

So after the two sides restarted the negotiations, especially after Florentino was re-elected, the pace of the negotiations was significantly accelerated.

On July 4, exactly one month after Florentino was re-elected, Spanish newspapers Marca and AS simultaneously announced that Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur had reached an agreement. The two sides had already agreed on all the details of Cavani's joining Real Madrid, including the contract with the sponsor, and even the payment method and time.

Soon, the next day, the official website of Real Madrid also officially pushed the news that the team had completed the transfer of Uruguayan center forward Cavani from Tottenham Hotspur. Cavani will also arrive in Madrid before the team's new season training camp, undergo a physical examination, and participate in the joining ceremony. The specific transfer amount was not disclosed.

Many newspapers and media analysts believe that there is no need to argue about the transfer fee that exceeds Cristiano Ronaldo. After all, Cavani's performance in the past few seasons is obvious to all, and his huge tactical value also makes him Ancelotti's first choice. This is a rare time that the head coach and the chairman have both set their sights on the top target.

On the afternoon of the day when Cavani was officially announced to join, Real Madrid President Florentino was questioned by all reporters at a club event. He also accepted a joint interview with multiple reporters.

"I want to emphasize that Cavani is a very professional player. His performance in Tottenham Hotspur proves this. I believe that after he comes to the Bernabeu, the locker room will welcome him. There are no unstable factors. Ancelotti will definitely be able to coordinate the relationship between the players well."

"The club's technical officials and many, many people told me that Cavani is a player of the same height as Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. They are the best and most outstanding superstars on the planet, and we are One of the best football teams on the planet."

"Letting Cavani join is the decision of the head coach, but it is also the decision of the club. As chairman, I think more about the new stimulation and improvement that the players can bring to the team's business development after joining. As for I believe no one has any doubts about his competitive level, and these are the considerations for the head coach.”

Florentino also expressed his gratitude to Tottenham Hotspur.

"This is a great signing that marks an era. I believe that Cavani's arrival will bring a new look to Real Madrid's football. He is a superstar at the same level as Cristiano Ronaldo. After complex and fierce negotiations, , we have finally completed the signing and thank Tottenham Hotspur for giving Real Madrid the best player in the world.”

However, Florentino remained silent on how much Cavani's transfer fee was, saying that the team had a confidentiality agreement with Tottenham Hotspur and would not disclose Cavani's transfer fee to the outside world. , but he promised all Real Madrid members and fans that Real Madrid can complete this acquisition independently without the support of banks and other institutions.

As if to confirm this, the day after Real Madrid announced the introduction of Cavani, they once again announced the introduction of Isco from Malaga for a high price of 30 million euros. Former Real Madrid superstar Zidane went to Malaga in person , persuaded Isco to join the Bernabeu Stadium.

Cavani, Isco, Illarramendi, Real Madrid caused huge waves in the transfer market.

When Real Madrid announced the continuous introduction of heavyweight stars, especially midfield stars, Tottenham Hotspur was also strengthening the team's midfield, and successively introduced Lewandowski, Stroman and After Mitrovic, Tottenham Hotspur announced that Sandro plus five million euros in cash would be exchanged for Southampton midfielder Nemanja Matic.

Nemanja Matic has been the cornerstone of Southampton's midfield in the past season. The midfield he formed with Nick Powell and Schneiderlin was regarded as Southampton's outstanding performance last season. This season Tottenham Hotspur announced that Nick Powell, Coutinho and Lucas Moura will renew their leases at Southampton.

At the same time, Southampton relied on the team's better ranking in the Premier League last season to further strengthen the team's recruitment efforts and successively introduced Immobile, N'Kulu, Lovren and Sandro. , there is still some money left, and it is said that he is interested in Celtic's beast waist Wan Yama.

Southampton's head coach Adrian Se is ambitious and said that he will strive to get a better league ranking in the new season.

After defeating Chelsea and bringing in Matic, Tottenham Hotspur spent more than 50 million euros this summer. This is also Tottenham Hotspur's biggest signing season in the past five or six years. .

With the addition of Lewandowski, Stroman and Matic, Tottenham Hotspur will also undergo a series of changes in the new season, especially the midfield, which will obviously become tougher and consider With stars such as Ramsey, Pogba, Phil Jones, Eriksen, Vidal and Pirlo, Tottenham Hotspur's midfield is the thickest in the world.

With so many good players, how to coordinate the players' appearance has become a question that Ye Qiu and the coaching staff need to consider. But more importantly, how will the team's tactics be developed in the new season?

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When many people mention modern football tactics, they always think of many things, such as ball control. But in fact, modern football tactics are becoming more and more clear and clear. That is one word, quick!

In fact, from the past few decades to the present, the style of football has been constantly changing and evolving, but it boils down to one word, fast!

The speed here is overall speed, collaboration speed, and interaction speed.

Nowadays, some Premier League teams are pursuing the mainland style and ball possession system, but they do not pay attention to cooperation. Often the central defenders get the ball, and other surrounding players do not run to respond, and then the full-backs or midfielders see no one to go. If the ball is received, they will pull back or run over to respond. Once they have the ball and see that no one is available to respond, they will pass it back.

The result is that you have the ball, but the rhythm is completely slow.

Therefore, one thing that is very clear is that today’s football is about running, fast mobility, and team interaction. In this case, over-emphasis on positioning is actually an act of restricting mobility. This is an old-school way of thinking that cannot keep up with the development trends of modern football.

Ye Qiu is not saying that the sense of position is not important, but he feels that the so-called sense of position should not be pursued excessively.

You know, everything on the football field never exists alone, they must complement each other and interact with each other.

It's like a sense of position. What is a sense of position? Who can tell a reason?

In the words of some media and fans, positioning means appearing where you should be.

It seems that many people say that Makelele's sense of position is incredible and that he has a dedicated Makelele area. From this point of view, their sense of position is their stationed area in the entire tactical formation, which is a fixed position. , such as in front of the defense line.

Well, if a defensive midfielder who is dragging back rushes forward away from the defense line and blocks the opponent's ball route in advance, completing an interception, is this considered a good prediction? Or a good sense of position? Or both?

But if he fails to intercept the ball this time, and the opponent takes advantage of the vacuum area left after his steal and directly attacks the defense line, is it because he has the wrong timing, bad prediction, or poor sense of position?

Looking at this problem from another angle, when the midfielder decides whether to steal or not, he is actually in trouble, because the defense line formed by his teammates in front of him has been broken. If he steals, he will definitely lose his position, but there is still a chance to resolve it. If he does not steal, he will stand in position, but it will be useless, and the opponent will bypass your position to attack your defense line.

So on the surface, whether to steal or not seems to be a problem for this midfielder, but in fact, the real decisive factor is not him, but his teammates in front of him.

Usually, the head coach has two ways to solve these problems. First, keep the front court and introduce a defensive midfielder with better ability to grab and predict. When the opponent breaks through the front court, he will block the ball route in time. Even if he cannot resolve it, he will force the opponent to slow down the attack speed and provide time for the front court players to return to defense.

The second way is to introduce a midfielder with excellent defensive ability and return defense awareness to protect the area in front of the defensive midfielder.

Mourinho wants to introduce Matic, which actually means to take the first route!

And if we look at the definition of positional sense in the eyes of some people, does Matic have a good sense of position?

In other words, does Mourinho really want a defensive midfielder like Makelele with excellent positional sense?

The answer is no, because modern football, especially football in the new century, emphasizes fluidity and change.

When all ten players on the court except the goalkeeper are running and constantly changing positions, the definition of positional sense should also change. It should be more of an ability for players to coordinate their connection with their teammates around them and maintain a distance from their teammates.

If the distance is too close and the connection is too close, the two players will interfere with each other and form internal friction; if the distance is too far and the connection is too sparse, there will be gaps in the middle, which can be easily exploited by the other side. Therefore, you need to observe and make judgments constantly, especially in a game, the other side is constantly changing the running position and passing route, which affects and interferes with your judgment.

Not only defense, but also offense, teammates' ball holding and running, teammates' passing intentions, the team's offensive direction and strategy, all of these must be clear, because only if you know all of this clearly, you can know how to respond to your teammates and how to receive teammates' passing.

Ye Qiu thinks this is like driving.

All those who have driven a car, especially a car, must know very well that when you sit in the driver's seat, you can't see the situation in front, behind, left and right of the vehicle at all. You look at the front of the car and think you are going to hit the front beam, but in fact, the distance is still far. When you turn, you look at the side and feel like you are going to scratch it, but in fact, when you get off the car, you still have some distance.

Many novices will admire those old drivers who know how to choose the road and can always drive smoothly. When asked why, the old drivers always say that you must have a sense of position, and know where your four wheels are at any time and anywhere, and understand where your car is.

This is the sense of position!

The so-called sense of position is not just your current position, but also your next position. This requires you to have a clear enough judgment of the situation and have enough ability to predict the next development. Even further, you must be clear about your own characteristics and abilities, as well as the situation of the team.

Just like when you drive, you must at least know what car you are driving, how wide it is, how long it is, what road you are taking, how wide it is, and so on, because these are the most basic.

In fact, Ye Qiu has been pursuing the transformation of the midfield since he sold Fabregas, David Silva and Yaya Toure. He began to speed up the team again, so he gathered a group of offensive and defensive players in the midfield.

If we analyze the three lines of Tottenham Hotspur, when attacking, the front court takes the ball, the midfielder and two full-backs join in, Pirlo and the central defender are responsible for dragging back and serving as the ball-passing point, while when defending, the front court is responsible for pressing and delaying, the midfielder is more responsible for intercepting and pressing, and the back court is responsible for defending.

At the moment of switching from attack to defense, the midfielder does not control the ball too much, but emphasizes a quick one-touch pass, transfers the ball to the front court as quickly as possible, and then uses the cooperation of the front court players to launch an attack. Once the fast break fails, the midfielder's back insertion and the full-backs follow up, immediately forming the second and third waves of attacking echelons, especially Ramsey and Vidal, who are very good at using the defensive vacuum created by the front court's ball attack.

Therefore, Ye Qiu said that Lewandowski is very important, more important than Cavani, because he can hold the ball in front.

But such tactics also have certain risks. That is, once the midfielder advances and cannot come back when the ball is lost, it is often easy for the opponent's attack to directly face Tottenham Hotspur's defense. Therefore, Ye Qiu placed Ramsey and Vidal in the midfield, and they are both excellent in movement and coverage.

But looking at it the other way around, if there is a player who can cover the large area in front of the defense line well and provide stable protection for the midfielders, then why bother to play Ramsey and Vidal at the same time?

Can we use the extra spot to play another offensive player?